Generating false data for suspicious users

ABSTRACT

A method, computer program product and system for generating false data for suspicious users. A suspicious user is identified. Actions of the user are then tracked. The user attempting to access sensitive information is detected. Relevant false sensitive information corresponding to the sensitive information is then detected. The relevant false sensitive information is then mapped to the sensitive information. The relevant false sensitive information is provided to the suspicious user. In response to user input, at least one command is executed, where the at least one command includes the relevant false sensitive information and not the sensitive information.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to monitoring the access ofsensitive data by users, and more particularly to generating false datafor suspicious users.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for generatingfalse data for suspicious users comprises detecting that a user attemptsto access sensitive information. The method further comprises detectingrelevant false sensitive information corresponding to the sensitiveinformation. The method additionally comprises mapping the relevantfalse sensitive information to the sensitive information. Furthermore,the method comprises executing at least one command, in response to userinput, wherein the at least one command comprises the relevant falsesensitive information and not the sensitive information. Additionally,the method comprises determining whether to block a transmission of therelevant false sensitive information, redact the relevant falsesensitive information or allow the relevant false sensitive informationto be transmitted based on characteristics associated with the user.

Other forms of the embodiment of the method described above are in asystem and in a computer program product.

The foregoing has outlined rather generally the features and technicaladvantages of one or more embodiments of the present invention in orderthat the detailed description of the present invention that follows maybe better understood. Additional features and advantages of the presentinvention will be described hereinafter which may form the subject ofthe claims of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the present invention can be obtained when thefollowing detailed description is considered in conjunction with thefollowing drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of an example computing system that cangenerate false data for suspicious users according to an embodimentdescribed herein;

FIG. 2 is a process flow diagram of an example method that can generatefalse data for suspicious users according to an embodiment describedherein;

FIG. 3 illustrates example components for managing relevant falsesensitive information;

FIG. 4 is a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium that cangenerate false data for suspicious users according to an embodimentdescribed herein;

FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative cloud computing environment according toan embodiment described herein; and

FIG. 6 depicts a set of functional abstraction layers provided by acloud computing environment according to an embodiment described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Users frequently transmit data between various devices and remoteservers.

Additionally, the transmitted data can include confidential or sensitiveinformation such as medical information, financial information, personalinformation, and the like. In embodiments described herein, devices cangenerate false data to prevent users suspected of enabling theunauthorized access of confidential information from transmittingsensitive information to others.

In some embodiments described herein, a device can identify a suspicioususer. For example, a device can identify users that attempt to transmitsensitive information to unauthorized locations or users. In someexamples, a device can also track a plurality of actions of the user.For example, in response to identifying a user as a suspicious user, thedevice can monitor file accesses, database accesses, data transmissions,and the like. In some embodiments, the device can also detect that theuser attempts to access sensitive information. For example, the devicecan detect that a user queries a database for sensitive information,accesses a local file that includes sensitive information, and the like.In some embodiments, the device can detect relevant false sensitiveinformation corresponding to the sensitive information. For example, thedevice can generate relevant false sensitive information or detect therelevant false sensitive information from an external source. Therelevant false sensitive information, as referred to herein, can includedata generated to resemble corresponding sensitive information. Forexample, relevant false sensitive information can include false or fakesensitive information generated to resemble sensitive information. Therelevant false sensitive information can be the same type as thesensitive information in order to appear accurate to a suspicious user.For example, the relevant false sensitive information may include afalse list of customer names if the sensitive information includescustomer names, a false list of company names if the sensitiveinformation includes company names, and the like.

In some embodiments, the device can map the relevant false sensitiveinformation to the sensitive information. For example, the device canstore a link between the relevant false sensitive information and thecorrect sensitive information to enable the device to perform operationswith the relevant false sensitive information. In some examples, thedevice can provide the relevant false sensitive information to thesuspicious user. For example, the device can enable a suspicious user toaccess a file with relevant false sensitive information or retrieverelevant false sensitive information from a database query. In someembodiments, the device can also execute at least one command, inresponse to user input, wherein the at least one command includes therelevant false sensitive information and not the sensitive information.For example, the command can include transmitting the relevant falsesensitive information to an external source or user, copying therelevant false sensitive information to another file, encrypting therelevant false sensitive information, and the like.

Accordingly, the techniques described herein can prevent unauthorizedaccess of sensitive information by generating and returning relevantfalse sensitive information to a suspicious user. For example, thetechniques described herein can prevent a user from receivingconfidential information or a user from performing an unauthorizedaction with confidential information such as transmitting confidentialinformation to an unauthorized user.

With reference now to FIG. 1, an example computing device is depictedthat can generate false data for suspicious users. The computing device100 may be for example, a server, desktop computer, laptop computer,tablet computer, or smartphone. In some examples, computing device 100may be a cloud computing node. Computing device 100 may be described inthe general context of computer system executable instructions, such asprogram modules, being executed by a computer system. Generally, programmodules may include routines, programs, objects, components, logic, datastructures, and so on that perform particular tasks or implementparticular abstract data types. Computing device 100 may be practiced indistributed cloud computing environments where tasks are performed byremote processing devices that are linked through a communicationsnetwork. In a distributed cloud computing environment, program modulesmay be located in both local and remote computer system storage mediaincluding memory storage devices.

The computing device 100 may include a processor 102 that is adapted toexecute stored instructions, a memory device 104 to provide temporarymemory space for operations of said instructions during operation. Theprocessor can be a single-core processor, multi-core processor,computing cluster, or any number of other configurations. The memory 104can include random access memory (RAM), read only memory, flash memory,or any other suitable memory systems.

The processor 102 may be connected through a system interconnect 106(e.g., PCI®, PCI-Express®, etc.) to an input/output (I/O) deviceinterface 108 adapted to connect the computing device 100 to one or moreI/O devices 110. The I/O devices 110 may include, for example, akeyboard and a pointing device, wherein the pointing device may includea touchpad or a touchscreen, among others. The I/O devices 110 may bebuilt-in components of the computing device 100, or may be devices thatare externally connected to the computing device 100.

The processor 102 may also be linked through the system interconnect 106to a display interface 112 adapted to connect the computing device 100to a display device 114. The display device 114 may include a displayscreen that is a built-in component of the computing device 100. Thedisplay device 114 may also include a computer monitor, television, orprojector, among others, that is externally connected to the computingdevice 100. In addition, a network interface controller (NIC) 116 may beadapted to connect the computing device 100 through the systeminterconnect 106 to the network 118. In some embodiments, the NIC 116can transmit data using any suitable interface or protocol, such as theinternet small computer system interface, among others. The network 118may be a cellular network, a radio network, a wide area network (WAN), alocal area network (LAN), or the Internet, among others. A remote server120 may connect to the computing device 100 through the network 118.

The processor 102 may also be linked through the system interconnect 106to a storage device 122 that can include a hard drive, an optical drive,a USB flash drive, an array of drives, or any combinations thereof. Insome examples, the storage device 122 may include a user manager 124,user tracker 126, information manager 128, false data manager 130, andcommand manager 132. In some embodiments, the user manager 124 canidentify a suspicious user. The user tracker 126 can track a pluralityof actions of the user. In some embodiments, the information manager 128can detect that the user attempts to access sensitive information. Insome embodiments, false data manager 130 can detect relevant falsesensitive information corresponding to the sensitive information, mapthe relevant false sensitive information to the sensitive information,and provide the relevant false sensitive information to the suspicioususer. In some embodiments, the command manager 132 can execute at leastone command, in response to user input, wherein the at least one commandcomprises the relevant false sensitive information and not the sensitiveinformation.

It is to be understood that the block diagram of FIG. 1 is not intendedto indicate that the computing device 100 is to include all of thecomponents shown in FIG. 1. Rather, the computing device 100 can includefewer or additional components not illustrated in FIG. 1 (e.g.,additional memory components, embedded controllers, modules, additionalnetwork interfaces, etc.). Furthermore, any of the functionalities ofthe user manager 124, user tracker 126, information manager 128, falsedata manager 130, and command manager 132 may be partially, or entirely,implemented in hardware and/or in the processor 102. For example, thefunctionality may be implemented with an application specific integratedcircuit, logic implemented in an embedded controller, or in logicimplemented in the processor 102, among others. In some embodiments, thefunctionalities of the user manager 124, user tracker 126, informationmanager 128, false data manager 130, and command manager 132 can beimplemented with logic, wherein the logic, as referred to herein, caninclude any suitable hardware (e.g., a processor, among others),software (e.g., an application, among others), firmware, or any suitablecombination of hardware, software, and firmware.

FIG. 2 is a process flow diagram of an example method that can generatefalse data for suspicious users. The method 200 can be implemented withany suitable computing device, such as the computing device 100 of FIG.1.

At block 202, a user manager 124 can identify a suspicious user. In someembodiments, the user manager 124 can detect if a user attempts toaccess unauthorized data. In some examples, the user manager 124 candetect if a user attempts to transmit sensitive information to anexternal source or to an unauthorized user. In some examples, the usermanager 124 can identify a user as a suspicious user if the userattempts to access sensitive information that the user is not authorizedto access. In some embodiments, the user manager 124 can also identify auser as a suspicious user in response to detecting external informationabout the user such as a termination date of the user from anorganization or a date for changing user privileges, and the like.

At block 204, a user tracker 126 can track a plurality of actions of theuser. In some embodiments, the user tracker 126 can monitor each useraction in response to identifying the user as a suspicious user. In someexamples, the user tracker 126 can track the data that a user accessesfrom a local device, a database, and any other sources. In someembodiments, the user tracker 126 can track each read operation andwrite operation initiated by a user.

In some examples, the user tracker 126 can monitor transmissions of datafrom a first user to any number of additional users or devices. In someexamples, the data can be transmitted between users and devices with anemail, a data packet based on any suitable network protocol, and thelike. In some embodiments, the user tracker 126 can detect thetransmission of data between users and devices from a web browser, anapplication installed within a web browser such as a browser add-on, orfrom a remote external server. For example, the user tracker 126 canreside on a remote server such as a database server, or an email server,among others. In some embodiments, the user tracker 126 can reside inany suitable application and can detect a transmission of data from afirst user to a separate set of users in an email, among others.

In some embodiments, the user tracker 126 can hook into event calls ormodify an operating system to detect an operation executed by a user. Insome examples, the user tracker 126 can monitor, at a kernel level ofthe operating system, a plurality of system calls involving locallystored data and files. In some embodiments, hooking into an event callcan include inserting hooks into a process that enables an applicationor operating system to intercept functions calls, messages, or events,among others, passed between various software components. For example,hooking into an event call can enable an application or process tointercept keyboard or mouse event messages before the keyboard or mousemessages reach an application. In some embodiments, the user tracker 126can modify an operating system to load an additional library module ormodify the import table of an executable.

At block 206, an information manager 128 can detect that the userattempts to access sensitive information. For example, the informationmanager 128 can identify user actions that include sensitive informationor non-sensitive information. In some embodiments, the sensitiveinformation can include any financial data, personal identificationdata, or any other data a user is unauthorized to access. In someexamples, non-sensitive information can include any data not identifiedas sensitive information. In some embodiments, the information manager128 can determine if a user can access sensitive information based on anauthorization level of a user. In some embodiments, suspicious users areallowed to access, modify, and transmit non-sensitive informationwithout a generation of relevant false sensitive information asdiscussed below in relation to block 208.

At block 208, a false data manager 130 can detect relevant falsesensitive information corresponding to the sensitive information. Insome embodiments, the false data manager 130 can generate relevant falsesensitive information on a local device or retrieve relevant falsesensitive information from an external source. For example, the falsedata manager 130 can use any suitable machine learning technique togenerate relevant false information that corresponds to sensitiveinformation. In some examples, the relevant false information caninclude any suitable similar type of information. For example, therelevant false information can include a company name if the sensitiveinformation pertains to company names, the relevant false informationcan include a customer name if the sensitive information pertains tocustomer names, company information such as employee salaries, personalinformation such as mailing addresses, government identifiers, and thelike.

In some embodiments, the false data manager 130 can detect that relevantfalse sensitive information is added to a file, and add a watermarkindicator to metadata of the file. The watermark, as referred to herein,can include an indicator stored in metadata of a file, or data stored ina file itself that indicates a presence of relevant false sensitiveinformation. In some examples, the false data manager 130 can transmitthe watermark indicator and the relevant false sensitive information toan external database. In some embodiments, the external database cangenerate the relevant false sensitive information in response to a queryfrom the suspicious user.

At block 210, the false data manager 130 can map the relevant falsesensitive information to the sensitive information. In some examples,the false data manger 130 can generate a locally stored file to storethe mapping of the relevant false information to the sensitiveinformation. In some embodiments, the false data manger 130 can transmitthe locally stored file to a database manager that can generate andmaintain a new table with the mapping information. In some embodiments,the mapping can be stored in any suitable data structure such as alinked list, array, vector, and the like. In some examples, the falsedata manager 130 can detect a format of sensitive information such as anine digit government identifier and generate false nine digitgovernment identifiers. In some embodiments, the relevant falsesensitive information and the mapping to the sensitive information canbe stored in an encrypted format based on a hashmap. In one example, themapping can include a first pointer to a memory address that stores thesensitive information and a second pointer to a memory address thatstores the relevant false sensitive information. The mapping can enablesubsequent commands to retrieve and present the relevant falseinformation to a suspicious user. In some embodiments, the false datamanager 130 can instruct an external database to create a new tableincluding the mapping of the sensitive information to the relevant falsesensitive information and a watermark indicator. In some embodiments,the false data manager 130 can detect a plurality of suspicious usersand instruct the database to create a new table for each suspicioususer. In some examples, each new table can include a separate mapping ofthe sensitive information to separate relevant false sensitiveinformation and a separate watermark indicator for each suspicious user.Accordingly, separate sets of relevant false sensitive information canbe generated for each suspicious user, which is mapped separately. Insome embodiments, the relevant false sensitive information can betracked through various external locations and users to determine whichsuspicious user is transmitting relevant false sensitive information toparticular external sources or users.

At block 212, the false data manager 130 can provide the relevant falsesensitive information to the suspicious user. For example, the falsedata manager 130 can return relevant false sensitive information as aresult of executing a command as discussed below in relation to block214.

At block 214, a command manager 132 can execute at least one command, inresponse to user input, wherein the at least one command comprises therelevant false sensitive information and not the sensitive information.In some embodiments, the command manager 132 can execute read commands,write commands, and the like, with the relevant false sensitiveinformation. For example, the command manager 132 can transmit therelevant false sensitive information to external sources or usersunauthorized to view the corresponding sensitive information. Thecommand manager 132 can also store the relevant false sensitiveinformation in newly created files, copy the relevant false sensitiveinformation to existing files, encrypt the relevant false sensitiveinformation, and the like.

In some examples, the command manager 132 can redact portions of therelevant false sensitive information in response to a command totransmit the relevant false sensitive information to an external source.The redaction can be based on comparable redactions to the correspondingsensitive information. The redaction can result in relevant falsesensitive information that is redacted, which can indicate to asuspicious user that the relevant false sensitive information isaccurate. In some embodiments, the command manager 132 can block anytransmission of the relevant false sensitive information to an externalsource. The blocked transmission can also indicate to a suspicious userthat the relevant sensitive information is accurate.

In some embodiments, the command manager 132 can determine whether toblock a transmission of relevant false sensitive information, redact therelevant false sensitive information, or allow the relevant sensitiveinformation to be transmitted based on characteristics associated withthe user transmitting the relevant false sensitive information. Forexample, the characteristics can indicate whether a user has permissionto access the corresponding sensitive information from a particularlocal device or remote device that hosts the sensitive information, thefile name corresponding to the sensitive information on the host device,a creation date of the sensitive information on the host device, a useror group of users with administrative access to the sensitiveinformation on the host device, and the like.

The process flow diagram of FIG. 2 is not intended to indicate that theoperations of the method 200 are to be executed in any particular order,or that all of the operations of the method 200 are to be included inevery case. For example, the method 200 can include generating an alertand transmitting the alert to a predetermined user in response todetecting a transmission of the relevant false sensitive information toan external source, or detecting that false sensitive information hasbeen stored in an encrypted format.

FIG. 3 illustrates example components for managing relevant falsesensitive information. In some embodiments, the system 300 can beimplemented with any suitable computing device such as the computingdevice 100 of FIG. 1.

In some embodiments, a local machine actions recorder 302 can detectoperations executed by a user. In some examples, operations can beflagged as suspicious. For example, operations can be flagged assuspicious if the operations include copying sensitive information to anexternal storage device connected to a local device, sending sensitiveinformation to an external email server, zipping sensitive informationand sending the zipped sensitive information to an external location, orbased on an administrator action if operations are executed by a userapproaching a termination date from an organization, among others.

In some embodiments, the local machine actions recorder 302 can transmitexecuted operations for each user to a logger 304. The logger 304 canstore each executed operation for each user. The local machine actionsrecorder 302 and the logger 304 can enable data lineage to be tracked sothat the system 300 can determine when relevant false sensitiveinformation was generated and whether actions are being performed withsensitive information or relevant false sensitive information.

In some embodiments, a network monitor 306 can detect data transmittedfrom the local machine actions recorder 302. For example, datatransmitted by a user to an external source, such as an email server, orthe like, can be monitored. In some embodiments, a database activitymanager (DAM) 308 can also monitor executed commands by the localmachine actions recorder 302 that involve a database. For example, DAM308 can monitor database queries that include retrieving sensitiveinformation from a database. In some embodiments, a file activitymanager (FAM) 310 can also monitor the local machine actions recorder302 to detect files accessed with sensitive information, zip filescreated with sensitive information, and the like. In some embodiments,the network monitor 306, DAM 308, and FAM 310 can each communicate witha fake data generator 312 that can generate relevant false sensitiveinformation corresponding to sensitive information associated withexecuted commands. For example, the fake data generator 312 can detect atype of data included in the sensitive information. In some embodiments,the fake data generator 312 can generate relevant false sensitiveinformation such as customer names, company names, product names, birthdates, financial information, and the like, to match correspondingsensitive information. Accordingly, the relevant false sensitiveinformation appears to a suspicious user to be legitimate and accuratesensitive information.

In some examples, the fake data generator 312 can generate a masked filein response to identifying a suspicious user accessing a file orcreating a new file via the FAM 310. In some examples, the fake datagenerator 312 can generate masked query results in response to asuspicious user executing a query from a database via the DAM 308. Insome embodiments, the fake data generator 312 can generate maskedresults in response to a suspicious user sending non-masked contentdetected by the network monitor 306. In some examples, the fake datagenerator 312 transmits relevant false sensitive information to thenetwork monitor 306, DAM 308, and FAM 310. Alternatively, the networkmonitor 306, DAM 308, and FAM 310 can transmit newly generated relevantfalse sensitive information to each other. For example, the FAM 310 candetect relevant false sensitive information stored in a local file andtransmit the relevant false sensitive information to the DAM 308 so thatany database query provides results consistent with the relevant falsesensitive information.

In some embodiments, a policy engine 314 can determine a response foreach action by a suspicious user. For example, the network monitor 306,DAM 308, and FAM 310 can detect an action by a suspicious user andtransmit the action to a policy engine 314. In some embodiments, thepolicy engine 314 can implement policies such as redacting or blocking atransfer of files that include a watermark indicating a presence ofrelevant false sensitive information, allowing a transmission of fileswith a watermark to unauthorized external locations or users, and thelike. In some examples, the policy engine 314 can detect if a file iswatermarked and contains relevant false sensitive information, and allowthe watermarked file to be transmitted by email to an external location.In some examples, the policy engine 314 can detect if relevant falsesensitive information is sent to an external email account or server andthe policy engine 314 can redact the sensitive information. In someembodiments, the policy engine 314 can prevent a user from changing afile type of a file retrieved with relevant false sensitive information,or prevent predetermined applications from accessing the file retrievedwith relevant false sensitive information. For example, the policyengine 314 can prevent changing a document from a portable documentformat to a word processing format if the document includes relevantfalse sensitive information. The policy engine 314 can return results tothe network monitor 306, DAM 308, or FAM 310 to use in executing acommand from a suspicious user.

It is to be understood that the block diagram of FIG. 3 is not intendedto indicate that the system 300 is to include all of the componentsshown in FIG. 3. Rather, the system 300 can include fewer or additionalcomponents not illustrated in FIG. 3 (e.g., additional memorycomponents, embedded controllers, modules, additional networkinterfaces, etc.). In some embodiments, the local machine actionsrecorder 302, logger 304, network monitor 306, DAM 308, FAM 310, fakedata generator 312, and policy engine 314 can reside in a single device.Alternatively, the local machine actions recorder 302, logger 304,network monitor 306, DAM 308, FAM 310, fake data generator 312, andpolicy engine 314 can reside in any number of separate devices or may beaccessible as a remote service hosted by any number of external servers.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer readable storagemedium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a computer, or other programmable data processing apparatusto produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computerreadable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readablestorage medium that can direct a computer, a programmable dataprocessing apparatus, and/or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the computer readable storage medium havinginstructions stored therein comprises an article of manufactureincluding instructions which implement aspects of the function/actspecified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be accomplished as one step, executed concurrently,substantially concurrently, in a partially or wholly temporallyoverlapping manner, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in thereverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will alsobe noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/orflowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purposehardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts orcarry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computerinstructions.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a block diagram is depicted of an example of atangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium that can generatefalse data for suspicious users. The tangible, non-transitory,computer-readable medium 400 may be accessed by a processor 402 over acomputer interconnect 404.

Furthermore, the tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium 400may include code to direct the processor 402 to perform the operationsof the current method. For example, user manager 406 can identify asuspicious user. The user tracker 408 can track a plurality of actionsof the user. In some embodiments, the information manager 410 can detectthat the user attempts to access sensitive information. In someembodiments, false data manager 412 can detect relevant false sensitiveinformation corresponding to the sensitive information, map the relevantfalse sensitive information to the sensitive information, and providethe relevant false sensitive information to the suspicious user. In someembodiments, the command manager 414 can execute at least one command,in response to user input, wherein the at least one command comprisesthe relevant false sensitive information and not the sensitiveinformation.

It is to be understood that any number of additional software componentsnot shown in FIG. 4 may be included within the tangible, non-transitory,computer-readable medium 400, depending on the specific application.Furthermore, fewer software components than those shown in FIG. 4 can beincluded in the tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium 400.

Referring now to FIG. 5, illustrative cloud computing environment 500 isdepicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 500 comprises one ormore cloud computing nodes 502 with which local computing devices usedby cloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant(PDA) or cellular telephone 504A, desktop computer 504B, laptop computer504C, and/or automobile computer system 504N may communicate. Nodes 502may communicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown)physically or virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private,Community, Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or acombination thereof. This allows cloud computing environment 500 tooffer infrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which acloud consumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computingdevice. It is understood that the types of computing devices 504A-Nshown in FIG. 5 are intended to be illustrative only and that computingnodes 502 and cloud computing environment 500 can communicate with anytype of computerized device over any type of network and/or networkaddressable connection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 6, a set of functional abstraction layers providedby cloud computing environment 500 (FIG. 5) is shown. It should beunderstood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shownin FIG. 6 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments of theinvention are not limited thereto. As depicted, the following layers andcorresponding functions are provided.

Hardware and software layer 600 includes hardware and softwarecomponents.

Examples of hardware components include mainframes, in one example IBM®zSeries® systems; RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecturebased servers, in one example IBM pSeries® systems; IBM xSeries®systems; IBM BladeCenter® systems; storage devices; networks andnetworking components. Examples of software components include networkapplication server software, in one example IBM Web Sphere® applicationserver software; and database software, in one example IBM DB2® databasesoftware. (IBM, zSeries, pSeries, xSeries, BladeCenter, WebSphere, andDB2 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporationregistered in many jurisdictions worldwide).

Virtualization layer 602 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers;virtual storage; virtual networks, including virtual private networks;virtual applications and operating systems; and virtual clients. In oneexample, management layer 604 may provide the functions described below.Resource provisioning provides dynamic procurement of computingresources and other resources that are utilized to perform tasks withinthe cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing provide costtracking as resources are utilized within the cloud computingenvironment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may comprise applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management providescloud computing resource allocation and management such that requiredservice levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planning andfulfillment provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of, cloudcomputing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated inaccordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 606 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation; software development and lifecycle management; virtualclassroom education delivery; data analytics processing; transactionprocessing; and generating false data for suspected malicious users.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

1. A computer program product for generating false data for suspicioususers, the computer program product comprising one or more computerreadable storage mediums having program code embodied therewith, theprogram code comprising the programming instructions for: detecting thata user attempts to access sensitive information; detecting relevantfalse sensitive information corresponding to the sensitive information;mapping the relevant false sensitive information to the sensitiveinformation; executing at least one command, in response to user input,wherein the at least one command comprises the relevant false sensitiveinformation and not the sensitive information; and determining whetherto block a transmission of the relevant false sensitive information,redact the relevant false sensitive information or allow the relevantfalse sensitive information to be transmitted based on characteristicsassociated with the user.
 2. The computer program product as recited inclaim 1, wherein the characteristics indicate whether a user haspermission to access: the corresponding sensitive information from aparticular local device or remote device that hosts the sensitiveinformation, a file name corresponding to the sensitive information onthe host device, a creation date of the sensitive information on thehost device, and administrative access to the sensitive information onthe host device.
 3. The computer program product as recited in claim 1,wherein the program code further comprises the programming instructionsfor: blocking the transmission of the relevant false sensitiveinformation to an external source.
 4. The computer program product asrecited in claim 1, wherein the program code further comprises theprogramming instructions for: redacting the relevant false sensitiveinformation in a transmission to an external source.
 5. The computerprogram product as recited in claim 1, wherein the program code furthercomprises the programming instructions for: allowing transmission of therelevant false sensitive information to an external source in responseto detecting that the relevant false sensitive information does notinclude the sensitive information.
 6. The computer program product asrecited in claim 1, wherein the program code further comprises theprogramming instructions for: detecting the relevant false sensitiveinformation corresponding to the sensitive information from an externaldatabase.
 7. The computer program product as recited in claim 1, whereinthe program code further comprises the programming instructions for:generating the relevant false sensitive information with a machinelearning technique.
 8. The computer program product as recited in claim1, wherein the at least one command comprises encrypting the relevantfalse sensitive information, transmitting the relevant false sensitiveinformation to an external storage device, copying the relevant falsesensitive information to a separate location in local storage, or anycombination thereof.
 9. The computer program product as recited in claim1, wherein the program code further comprises the programminginstructions for: adding a watermark to metadata of a file in responseto detecting the relevant false sensitive information being added to thefile, wherein the watermark comprises an indicator that indicates apresence of relevant false sensitive information.
 10. The computerprogram product as recited in claim 1, wherein the program code furthercomprises the programming instructions for: instructing an externaldatabase to create a table comprising the mapping of the relevant falsesensitive information to the sensitive information and a watermarkindicator.
 11. A system, comprising: a memory for storing a computerprogram for generating false data for suspicious users; and a processorconnected to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to executethe program instructions of the computer program comprising: detectingthat a user attempts to access sensitive information; detecting relevantfalse sensitive information corresponding to the sensitive information;mapping the relevant false sensitive information to the sensitiveinformation; executing at least one command, in response to user input,wherein the at least one command comprises the relevant false sensitiveinformation and not the sensitive information; and determining whetherto block a transmission of the relevant false sensitive information,redact the relevant false sensitive information or allow the relevantfalse sensitive information to be transmitted based on characteristicsassociated with the user.
 12. The system as recited in claim 11, whereinthe characteristics indicate whether a user has permission to access:the corresponding sensitive information from a particular local deviceor remote device that hosts the sensitive information, a file namecorresponding to the sensitive information on the host device, acreation date of the sensitive information on the host device, andadministrative access to the sensitive information on the host device.13. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the program instructionsof the computer program further comprise: blocking the transmission ofthe relevant false sensitive information to an external source.
 14. Thesystem as recited in claim 11, wherein the program instructions of thecomputer program further comprise: redacting the relevant falsesensitive information in a transmission to an external source.
 15. Thesystem as recited in claim 11, wherein the program instructions of thecomputer program further comprise: allowing transmission of the relevantfalse sensitive information to an external source in response todetecting that the relevant false sensitive information does not includethe sensitive information.
 16. The system as recited in claim 11,wherein the program instructions of the computer program furthercomprise: detecting the relevant false sensitive informationcorresponding to the sensitive information from an external database.17. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the program instructionsof the computer program further comprise: generating the relevant falsesensitive information with a machine learning technique.
 18. The systemas recited in claim 11, wherein the at least one command comprisesencrypting the relevant false sensitive information, transmitting therelevant false sensitive information to an external storage device,copying the relevant false sensitive information to a separate locationin local storage, or any combination thereof.
 19. The system as recitedin claim 11, wherein the program instructions of the computer programfurther comprise: adding a watermark to metadata of a file in responseto detecting the relevant false sensitive information being added to thefile, wherein the watermark comprises an indicator that indicates apresence of relevant false sensitive information.
 20. The system asrecited in claim 11, wherein the program instructions of the computerprogram further comprise: instructing an external database to create atable comprising the mapping of the relevant false sensitive informationto the sensitive information and a watermark indicator.